Crop Systems Engineering Event

Anyone who has tried to uproot an established shrub knows how tightly plant roots bind to soil. However, cohesion can fail, and weak root systems can cause the loss of a whole crop to windfall (so called root lodging). We are using a combination of experimental and theoretical approaches find out how plants cohere with soils. Existing models of root-soil cohesion are not ideal. Most do not include friction between the roots and the soil, and none are ideal for the type of data we can collect experimentally. We are tackling this problem by taking full advantage of the unparalleled genetic resources available in Arabidopsis (including lines with altered root architecture and surface properties), and linking experimental results closely with modelling.

Speaker information

Professor Claire Grierson , University of Bristol, Research Fellow in Biolgical Sciences.

Professor Tanniemola Liverpool , University of Bristol, Head of Applied Group, Department of Mathematics